Gilded Age Crisis 

Letter From the Dais

Greetings delegates,

Welcome to the Gilded Age Crisis at SCSY! I’m excited to serve as your co-chair and I hope to make your experience at this conference a fulfilling one. As a bit of background about me, I’m a senior double majoring in Economics and Computer Science. Though I was born in India, I spent most of my formative years in the Greater Los Angeles area. Aside from this conference, I compete on Yale’s intercollegiate traveling team, MUNTY, and serve as the Treasurer of the Yale International Relations Association, which puts up SCSY, as well as our many international MUN conferences for high school students. You can also find me writing editorials for the Yale Daily News, arguing in the Yale Political Union, and building robots with the Yale Intelligent Vehicles Team.

The Gilded Age’s political climate is absolutely fascinating, and I encourage you all to study the period further. It’s astounding how much about this country can be traced back to the decisions of just a few men during this time period. Please do let me know if you have any questions at all—whether they’re about SCSY, the Gilded Age, or anything in between!

Shreyas Tirumala

shreyas.tirumala@yale.edu

Topic History

General Overview

America began the Nineteenth Century as an agrarian nation. Despite the introduction of steam power and railroads during the antebellum era, the overall structure of the American economy remained largely the same for the next 60 years. The soldiers of the Civil War were not industrialists or government bureaucrats, but farmers, some of whom had occupied the land since America’s colonization two centuries earlier. By the eve of the Twentieth Century, however, America was an industrial powerhouse.

In the span of just 40 years, the percentage of Americans living in cities doubled, as European immigrants and rural farmers began to toil in factories rather than on fields. Industries such as rail, oil, and steel led America into an explosive period of economic growth and soon the nation underwent a spectacular transformation. The city as we know it today was shaped by the post-Civil War period; by the turn of the Twentieth Century, New York City and other major metropolitan areas constructed massive skyscrapers, installed electric lights, and developed infrastructure for public transport, police stations, and fire departments. Many of the largest corporations of today such as General Electric and Sears were also products of this era.

It is easy to assume that this was a golden age of American history, but undergirding America’s growth were several social and political struggles that came to define the time period. Bitter disputes were common between the laborers who worked on factory floors and the corporate tycoons who made their fortunes in the laissez-faire economic atmosphere of the era. Citizens rallied behind federal efforts to regulate America’s growing cadre of mega-corporations, such as the famous Standard Oil Company. Unfortunately, however, government at all levels was plagued by corruption and graft. Few politicians seemed keen to address the problems that arose from the growth of industry and cities, and were instead caught up in many a political scandal. In fact, the post-Civil War era is also sometimes called the “Era of Forgettable Presidents”; not a single president during the time period served two consecutive terms and all of them are widely considered to have had a negligible impact on American politics.

All this social and economic activity largely occurred in the North, however, leaving Southern states stuck in time. Because the region failed to industrialize for decades after the war, it largely retained its rural way of life. The South continued to be a hotbed of racial injustice, with antebellum laws protecting slavery merely replaced by prejudicial Jim Crow laws.

These problems eventually led writer Mark Twain to famously dub the period a “Gilded Age” in which major social issues were masked by the superficial glittering of economic growth.

In sections to come, we will chronicle the development of a few specific topics that are particularly important to understand the Gilded Age: organized labor, industry, politics, urbanization, and demography

Organized Labor

The Gilded Age saw the emergence of modern organized labor in the United States. The first large American labor unions were formed as a response to the protracted struggle between workers and industrialists to shape the workplace. The age was characterized by rapid advances in technological development and economic growth. Workers saw a marked increase in real wages--nearly 48% according to census estimates. All was not well, however. Contemporaneously, there was widespread poverty and income inequality; approximately 2% of the American population owned one-third of the entire nation’s wealth. Working conditions were also poor, dangerous and impersonal. Industrialists often forced employees to sign “yellow-dog” contracts which forbade them from joining or forming unions. With no legal protection or channel for recourse, all workers--especially unskilled laborers, immigrants, women and minorities--had little they could do about this exploitation.

Taken from http://faculty.weber.edu/kmackay/history_1700gildedageimages.htm

Simmering tensions and repressed grievances between labor and industrialists exploded during the Great Railroad Strike in 1877, setting the stage for three decades of labor militancy and civil unrest. When the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad cut wages by 10 percent, workers began to strike in West Virginia. President Rutherford Hayes’ ordered troops to protect the railroads, but this incited further strikes in Maryland and Pennsylvania, culminating with an especially violent riot in Pittsburgh. Federal Judge Thomas S. Drummond indicted Indianapolis strikers for obstructing federal receiverships and many other federal courts quickly followed suit. Much to labor leaders’ dismay, these cases set significant precedent for judicial opposition to strikes.

Despite such legal setbacks, the Great Strike catalyzed labor leaders to form some of the first major unions. The first of the national unions to form was the Knights of Labor, which evolved from the Garment Workers Association of Philadelphia. Initially formed by Uriah Stephens as a secret fraternal lodge where textile workers congregated, the association became a national union in 1878 and sought institutional reform such as the eight-hour workday, progressive taxation, the end of child labor, and eventually, cooperative ownership of industry. Under the leadership of Terence Powderly, the union’s membership grew to nearly 110,000 in 1885. Interestingly, the KOL were not huge proponents of striking. Powderly believed that strikes led to needless bloodshed and preferred the usage of boycotts and negotiation instead. Powderly’s pacifistic intentions were of little avail, however. Public perception of the KOL was badly damaged by the Haymarket Riot in 1886 which killed six policemen. The event began as a peaceful protest in Chicago for worker’s rights, but riots arose when radicalists and anarchists unaffiliated to the association threw dynamite into the crowd. The KOL began to dwindle in influence after the Haymarket Riot and disagreements about the management of the organization led a few local craft unions to secede and form the American Federation of Labor (AFL) instead.

Taken from http://www.rarenewspapers.com/view/546989

The secession of the AFL—led by Samuel Gompers—revealed several strands of tension within the labor movement. Unlike the KOL, which attempted to represent all industry workers, the AFL excluded unskilled workers from joining the organization, creating a union with more “aristocratic exclusiveness.” Gompers reasoned that because trade workers were in much higher demand than unskilled workers, the organization could have more negotiating clout by excluding anyone who did not specialize in a craft. The AFL also had much less ambitious goals than the KOL. Rather than seeking widespread political reform, the AFL focused specifically on improving working conditions and wages for its members. The AFL’s emphasis of its simple, pragmatic goals, attracted more and more workers from the KOL until the Knights ceased to exist. The AFL represented a step backwards for minority groups, however. Membership was also restricted to skilled, white men, and though a few female organizers were employed, the AFL considered groups such Susan B. Anthony’s Working Women’s Association (WWA) inimical to wider labor interests.

Corporate leaders naturally opposed these labor movements and sought innovative methods to disincentivize unionization and potential strikes. George Pullman—the designer of the Pullman railway car—championed an approach known as industrial paternalism, in which businesses provided services for their employees. He built Pullman Town in Chicago, an all-encompassing community for his employees to live in that aimed to meet all of their living needs. Although Pullman’s strategy appeared to be an enlightened alternative to violent strike-busting methods, in practice, it was highly restrictive and exploitative. Prices and rents were high; the company officials exerted control over all aspects of life, even imposing the prohibition of alcohol in the town. Following an 1894 wage cut, Pullman’s workers organized a massive railroad strike.

President Cleveland sent in some 12,000 troops nationwide to break the strike; the federal government sued the strikers for interfering with the delivery of U.S. Mail on the Pullman Railroad, obtaining an injunction from the federal courts that all strikers be arrested. Shortly thereafter, the chief organizer of the strike, Eugene V. Debs, was arrested.

Taken from https://econhist.econproph.net/2014/11/the-pullman-strike/

This judicial decision—the first government injunction used against a strike—was typical of government actions taken against labor during the Gilded Age. However, many strikes were dealt with by industrialists themselves—often with violence. Henry Clay Frick, deputy to steel mogul Andrew Carnegie, represented a school of industrialists who were fiercely against union activities. During the 1892 Homestead Strike, when negotiations with the Amalgamated Association of Iron and Steel Workers failed, Frick hired 300 men from the New York Pinkerton Detective Agency to break the strike by force. After shots were fired, the Pennsylvania National Guard was sent in by the state to restore order, and together, the National Guard and the strikebreakers got the steel plant up and running again.

Organized labor certainly raised many important concerns about the working conditions in the United States, but it is important to note that labor movements were generally small affairs. Although 23,000 strikes occurred between 1881 and 1900, the participants only represented about 3 percent of the labor force. The general public also held limited sympathy for strikers during the Gilded Age, and striking workers were often portrayed in the media as lawless and disruptive. Nonetheless, unions continued to fight for workers’ rights and their activism paved the way for Progressive Era reforms that addressed many of their concerns.

Industry and Monopolies

America saw the fastest period of economic growth in its history during the Gilded Age. Much of this growth can be attributed to the spectacular explosion of industry during the period.

The industry that led the way was rail. In 1869, the First Transcontinental Railroad opened, cutting the transit time from New York to San Francisco from six months to just six days. Between 1860 and 1880, the amount of railway track tripled as citizens and corporations alike flocked to utilize America’s trains. Railroads spurred the growth of almost every other industry in the nation; as economist Leland Jenks points out, the Gilded Age was America’s rail system allowed goods to be efficiently transported across an area approximately the size of Europe with no tariff barriers or legal challenges to worry about. As such, tycoons such as Cornelius Vanderbilt made millions by buying up rail firms and shipping goods for other corporations around the nation. With municipal and federal subsidies paving the way, the industry became more and more profitable during the 1860s and 1870s, eventually attracting investors from as far away as London and Paris.

Railroad companies began to exert enormous social influence; in fact, modern time zones were created by railroad companies to standardize train schedules. Railroads invigorated the hospitality industry nearly wherever they went; municipalities often fought to entice rail companies to lay track that ran through them, hoping to cash in on the tourism revenue that would inevitably follow. As rail companies grew in size and influence, they began to create elaborate managerial systems, many of which were copied by firms in other industries; by the turn of the century Harvard, the University of Pennsylvania, and several other universities began to offer degree programs in business administration, such as the Masters in Business Administration (MBA), based on the management techniques utilized by railroad firms.

Simultaneously, technological advancements allowed other types of corporations to flourish too. Thomas Edison and Nikola Tesla created electric lighting utilities that brought streetlights to American cities; telegraph lines and Alexander Graham Bell’s 1876 invention of the telephone spawned a vast communications network. Consequently, the productivity of American firms skyrocketed. New manufacturing processes such as the Bessemer process for the mass production of steel were developed and factories nationwide began to churn out more product than ever before. With few regulations on the books, entrepreneurs engaged in fiendish competition with one another for market share. A healthy financial market also developed, with banks and foreign investors facilitating the growth and development of various ventures. Many modern firms such as the consumer retailer Sears, the utilities firm General Electric, and bank J.P. Morgan Chase can trace their origins to the Gilded Age. This fight for market dominance also spawned another economic development: America’s first major monopolies.

The most famous of the monopolists was John D. Rockefeller, a mogul who made his fortune in the oil business by starting Standard Oil of Ohio. Rockefeller pioneered what has come to be known as horizontal integration—that is, he created a monopoly by simply buying out his competitors. Much of his success came from aggressively pricing his products to run other local oil firms out of business and then buying them out at a steep discount. Other industrialists, such as steelmaker Andrew Carnegie, chose to take on a different approach: vertical integration. In essence, Carnegie bought out companies that made every product necessary for the production process, allowing him to produce and ship his steel more efficiently than anyone else.

Not every aspect of Gilded Age industry was a success, however. During the Gilded Age, America had the highest workplace accident rates in the world, particularly in the manufacturing sector, and was the only industrial economy without a workman’s compensation program in place to help aid employees hurt on the job.As mentioned before, the Gilded Age was also characterized by massive income inequality. The top ten percent of earners controlled nearly three-fourths of the nation’s wealth. As a result, criticism mounted for figures such as Rockefeller and Carnegie in major newspapers and magazines. Many prominent business leaders were dubbed “robber barons,” a pejorative term used to suggest that their wealth was generated by essentially stealing from the working class. Growing public pressure led Congress to eventually pass the Sherman Antitrust Act (1890) and the Clayton Antitrust Act (1914), outlawing many of the major monopolistic practices that the robber barons made famous, but tension between the working class and the industrialists remained strong throughout the Gilded Age and well into the 20th Century.

Politics and Graft

The Gilded Age is often remembered for the rampant corruption that existed in all levels of government. Elections were nearly always won by razor thin margins, leading to political stalemate. Ironically, the period also boasted some of the highest voter turnout rates in American history, with nearly 80 percent of eligible voters for presidential elections casting their vote. So, why were voters so enthusiastic about administrations that did little, if anything?

Part of their enthusiasm can be explained by the influence of political machines such as New York’s infamous Democratic machine, Tammany Hall. Immigrants in particular were given shelter, food, and assistance finding jobs by political bosses such as William “Boss” Tweed. In exchange, they were expected to vote for the Tammany Hall’s preferred slate of candidates. Machine politics of the era relied heavily on corrupt voting practices. An apocryphal story about Tammany Hall involves allegations that the group encouraged men to vote once with full beards, once again with just a mustache, and then a third time while clean shaven.

The parties themselves, knowing how close election results could be, shied away from bold platforms and were largely indistinguishable from one another. Indeed, the party affiliation of was a better indication of demographics than actual policy preferences during the Gilded Age as parties courted voters via appeals to religious beliefs and ethnic pride rather than on specific legislative proposals.

A few differences did exist, however. In stark contrast to the philosophies of both parties today, Gilded Age Democrats generally favored more laissez-faire economic policies and small government, while the GOP favored greater government intervention in socioeconomic issues. The Republican Party was further divided into the Half-Breeds (led by Maine senator James G. Blaine), who favored reform in the civil service based on meritocracy, and the Stalwarts, who enjoyed the spoils system.

At first, the Stalwarts appeared to have control of the party. Ulysses Grant, a Stalwart, was an avid supporter of party patronage systems; of course, along with the patronage came an unparalleled amount of graft as well. In the infamous Credit Mobilier scandal of 1872, government funds given to Union Pacific Railroad were appropriated to a dubiously associated company called Credit Mobilier. This firm then used the money to bribe congressmen. As reported by The Sun, more than 70 million in contracts were awarded when the railway itself cost around 50 million to build. After the scandal was exposed, trust in the Grant administration quickly eroded. Credit Mobilier was one of the first major bribery scandals of the Gilded Age, and by no means was it the last. With such kickbacks available for politicians from industrialists, it is no surprise that labor reforms were not on the top of the government’s list of priorities.

The rival Half-Breed faction did score some successes later on, however; Rutherford Hayes attempted to get rid of the spoils system during his term, and his successor James Garfield chose mostly Half-Breeds for his cabinet. Stalwart President Chester A. Arthur even defected from his faction by supporting the 1883 Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act and was denied a second nomination by his party. The Act later became an important tool to limit the power of the president to install his allies into bureaucratic positions and was a major reason for the decline of the spoils system.

Taken from http://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/art/artifact/Ga_Cartoon/Ga_cartoon_38_00392.htm

Economically, two issues took center stage--tariffs and the money supply.

During the Civil War and Reconstruction, Republican congressmen had enacted high tariffs in order to protect the iron and steel industries from the much more industrialized Britain. Democrats argued, however, that industrial tariffs drove up prices for consumers and prevented American monopolies from facing badly needed competition. Republicans countered by suggesting that dropping tariffs would flood America with cheap European products, sending most factories out of business. The public tended to side with the GOP. Indeed, many speculate that Grover Cleveland’s low-tariff platform was the primary reason for his loss in the election of 1888.

The flow and circulation of money became another key point of debate during this era. In the 1870s, faced with European tariffs for American agricultural products and falling domestic food prices, farmers across the country began to be saddled with massive amounts of debt. Farmers began to organize politically in groups such as the Farmers Alliance in order to obtain more favorable trade legislation. The group also sought government assistance to help manage the farmers’ debt burdens. The Farmers Alliance, among other groups, developed into what became known as the Populist Party. One solution that the Populists sought for the debt problem was to induce inflation, primarily by monetizing silver. At the time, the dollar was pegged to the gold standard--that is, every dollar corresponded to a specific amount of gold. If silver were to be allowed to be legal tender as well, more money would enter circulation, thus inducing inflation. Populists hoped that this inflation would make their debts easier to pay off. Republicans, fearing sky high prices and difficulties with international trade, fiercely rejected the idea. The issue famously took center stage during the presidential election of 1896, in which silverite and Democrat William Jennings Bryan faced off against Republican William McKinley.

A Changing America

With industrialization also came urbanization and immigration. America certainly experienced several technological changes during the Gilded Age, but equally important were the demographic shifts and lifestyle changes that came with the innovations.

The first major change was rapid urbanization. Cities were important centers for industrialization as they provided both the factor inputs for factories and the consumer demand for goods. The Gilded Age thus saw an unprecedented rate of rural-urban migration--by 1900, almost 40 percent of Americans were living in cities; from 1897-1930 alone, a million African Americans relocated from the South to northern and western cities, hoping to take advantage of the job opportunities industrialization provided.

Urbanization took a toll on city-dwellers’ standard of living and the inequality present in society. Especially toward the end of the period, the more affluent moved to suburbs to escape the indigence and pollution in city centers. Newly constructed public transportation infrastructure, such as the streetcar, allowed the rich to enjoy the seclusion of the suburbs without forsaking productivity. The poor were packed in the crowded slums, where one single tenement could house nearly 4000 residents. Not only were such slums uncomfortable, but they became hotbeds of dirt and disease. Municipal governments did try to intervene to improve the quality of life in slums; in 1879, the New York City government passed a law requiring all bedrooms to have a window, for example. However, these policies often did little to address the poor sanitation standards in many of these areas. Political machines such as the aforementioned Tammany Hall took advantage of this situation. These political organizations became integral in providing fledgling welfare and public services to city-dwellers, stepping in where the government was too inefficient or disorganized to accomplish change. It is easy to condemn political machines as corrupt and immoral, but the reality was far more gray. Certainly, they served an important, if controversial, role in managing urban life.

How the Other Half Lives, Jacob Riis, 1890.

Taken from: http://www.authentichistory.com/1898-1913/2-progressivism/2-riis/index.html

Simultaneously, rapid immigration changed the demographics of the US immensely. The total US population tripled from 1850 to 1900 , as falling living conditions, unemployment and religious persecution drove many Europeans to immigrate to the United States. Prior to the 1890s, most of these immigrants came from northern and western Europe and were usually both high skilled and English-speaking Protestants. From the 1890s on, however, more immigrants came from southern and eastern Europe to major U.S. cities. Europeans were not the only ones to seek a new home in the United States, however. Asian immigrants, especially many male Chinese workers, came in droves too. The influx of migrants became yet another hot political topic. Labor unions felt that the immigrants depressed wages and lowered benefits for unionized workers, while industrialists, hungry for more workers in their factories, welcomed new workers with relatively open arms.

Current Situation

The central question behind this committee is this: Could America’s industrialization have happened differently? Could the violent clashes between labor and industry have been avoided if the government had taken a less laissez faire approach?

This committee will begin its departure of American history in May of 1886, just after the violent Haymarket Riot in Chicago. President Grover Cleveland has decided to put together a secret committee of top labor activists, politicians, and industrialists to address the growing tensions between workers and employers in the country. Cleveland hopes that such a group will allow him to better ensure the continued stability and economic growth of the United States. This committee, dubbed the Gilded Cabinet, does not have any direct legislative authority, but President Cleveland himself pledges to throw his support behind its recommendations. Nonetheless, all legislative suggestions that the group makes will be subject to congressional approval. The Gilded Cabinet can freely allocate any and all resources controlled by the executive branch of government, however. All members of the Gilded Cabinet have sworn themselves to secrecy and have pledged not to reveal their membership in, or the existence of, the group. Instead, they have agreed to contribute their considerable expertise and perspectives to help create a more prosperous America.

After many discussions with his advisors, Cleveland has decided that the Gilded Cabinet will be run using a parliamentary procedure that is strangely reminiscent of the UNA-USA Model United Nations procedure that will be employed in collegiate MUN competitions more than 120 years later. All actions taken by the Gilded Cabinet as a whole (directives) must be voted on by the total body and passed via a simple majority vote. Debate will flow between moderated and unmoderated caucuses based on the votes and suggestions of delegates and will be subject to modification at any time by the chair. Delegates will also be encouraged to send in personal directives, sometimes called crisis notes to exercise any powers that their characters may have as individuals (portfolio powers). These handwritten notes will be passed periodically to a crisis team that will respond to each person’s notes individually and report on the results of said actions. Portfolio powers will be broad in scope and will not be explicitly defined, so delegates should feel free to experiment with what their character can or cannot do. Delegates may also collude with other delegates and submit joint crisis notes/joint personal directives to exercise the portfolio powers of multiple characters at once. Periodically, the crisis staff will interrupt the flow of debate to introduce new developments for the committee to address. Delegates are encouraged to remain in character during committee debates and while submitting crisis notes. Please feel free to contact the dais team with any questions.

Portfolio Powers

The actors in the committee will be divided into three groups for administrative purposes: labor leaders, bureaucrats/politicians, and industrialists. Delegates have no obligation to work with the other members of their group specifically and are free to submit joint personal directives with any other delegates in the committee. As a general rule, our crisis team will try to prioritize responding to joint crisis notes over individual crisis notes.

Labor Leaders

Terence V. Powderly

As former secretary of District Assembly, Knights of Labor, Terence V. Powderly became Grand Master of the organization in 1879. Replacing Uriah Stephens, Powderly set about to expand the membership of KOL significantly through abolishing the complex rites burdening the organization’s recruitment efforts. Initially opposed to labor militancy, Powderly eventually began to endorse more violent tactics as the KOL ballooned in popularity and its membership grew rapidly. Under the leadership of Powderly, the KOL developed a clear agenda to represent its workers--with his policy centerpieces being the eight-hour work day and progressive taxation.

Samuel Gompers

Leader of the Cigar Makers’ Local Union No. 15, Gompers went on to lead the American Federation of Labor to secede from the Knights of Labor in 1886. Gompers considered himself a pragmatic socialist.He advocated for incremental improvements to worker conditions, a mindset which worked well to improve the terms and compensation for workers. Unlike the KOL, the AFL believed that the adaptation of and cooperation with the capitalist industrial and financial system was the way forward for workers. Instead of a radical change to the capitalist system, Gompers worked towards economic ends, such as higher wages and better working hours, more conducive working conditions and a higher standard of living in terms of food, shelter, social services, education, etc. Under his leadership, the AFL chose to generally limit membership to skilled, urban male workers, individuals, who commanded much more political clout than the unskilled workers, minorities, and women.

Eugene V. Debs

As former Grand Secretary and treasurer of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen, Debs went on to form the American Railway Union in 1893, the largest railway union of its time. The ARU was engaged in several important labor movements throughout the 90s, including the Great Northern Railway Strike of 1893 and the Pullman Strike of 1894. Recognizing that the railroad organizations were typically focused on the provision of support and services rather than collective bargaining, Debs mobilized ARU members to recognize their value to the national economy and demand better wages and conditions. Debs was imprisoned on accounts of violating an injunction against the 1894 Pullman strike. Despit having been a member of the Democratic Party prior to establishing the ARU, Debs became a staunch supporter of the international socialist movement, founding multiple short-lived parties such as the Social Democracy of America and the Social Democratic Party of America. For the purposes of this committee, we will be accelerating Debs’ timeline slightly and will proceed as though he founded the ARU in 1886.

Susan B. Anthony

As former leader of the Working Women’s Association and its representative to the National Labor Union, Susan B. Anthony supported a broad-based movement aimed at reaching out to unskilled workers, non-white workers, and women. She believed in a tripartite alliance between white men, women and African American workers to wrest power from the “non-producers” (referring to politicians, industrialists and financialists). However, her alliance with the NLU and other labor leaders was short-lived. In the 1869 printers’ strike, Anthony expressed support for women workers to replace those print workers on strike, and was subsequently accused of supporting strikebreaking. Facing massive backlash, the WWA disbanded in 1869 and Anthony focused her efforts on the American Women Suffrage Association, an organization comprised mainly of middle-class women in the cities. She remained an active supporter of women and minority rights for the rest of her life.

Peter M. Arthur

Peter M. Arthur served as Grand Chief Engineer of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers starting in 1874. Arthur was responsible for successfully negotiating the first railroad-union contract with Henry Vanderbilt’s New York Central Railroad in 1875, and preferred negotiation and diplomacy over strike action. As such, Arthur focused on establishing amicable relations with railroad management, a strategy which achieved mixed success in the 80s and 90s. As with many other contemporary unions, the Brotherhood set narrow membership conditions. Members had to be white, literate, experienced engineers and could not belong to any other union.

Bureaucrats and Politicians

Leland Stanford

Leland Stanford began his career as a railroad owner and under he presided over the creation of the First Transcontinental Railroad of the United States. Throughout his life, however, Stanford maintained an active interest in politics and helped organize the first state convention of the California Republican Party. He served as the eighth Governor of California and eventually served as a United States Senator. Despite his background as an industrialist, Stanford was a vocal proponent of several Populist ideas, such as the creation of worker-owned cooperatives and a movement away from the gold standard. Though he died in 1893, this committee will proceed as though he managed to live on.

John Sherman

After many years of successful legal work, John Sherman joined the 34th United States Congress as a Representative from Ohio. He dedicated years to antislavery efforts before turning his attention to the financial stability of America after the Civil War. Serving as President Hayes’ Secretary of the Treasury, Sherman helped ease America off of its inflationary wartime policies and was a proponent of the gold standard. When he returned to Congress as a Senator, Sherman became particularly concerned about business competition law and often warned of the growing authority of major business leaders. Though he died in 1900, this committee will proceed as though he managed to live on.

Henry Cabot Lodge

Although Henry Cabot Lodge is best known for his role in American foreign policy during World War I, he actually began his political career during the height of the Gilded Age. A historian by training, Lodge served as a Representative and later Senator for Massachusetts. Lodge supported the gold standard and fought hard against the rise of the Populist movement. He also took great pride in his integrity, noting that he was one of the few politicians of the era to staunchly refuse bribes and called for comprehensive civil service reform.

Thomas Brackett Reed

Thomas Reed, a U.S. Representative from Maine completely redefined how the House of Representatives operates today. As chairman of the influential Rules Committee and eventually, during his tenure as Speaker of the House, Reed began to analyze parliamentary procedure. He quickly proved adept at utilizing legal loopholes to empower the Speakership with more authority than it had ever had before. He ruled the House with an iron fist and was often quoted as saying that “the best [legislative] system is to have one party govern, and the other party watch.” Because of this mindset, he was often ridiculed as “Czar Reed” by his political opponents.

George Plunkitt

George Plunkitt unapologetically embraced the corruption and graft that came to epitomize the Gilded Age. As an influential New York politician and a member of the infamous Tammany Hall political machine, he practiced what he called “honest graft” in which he used his political authority to give special advantages to members of his community and party. He differentiated this from “dishonest graft” by suggesting that purely self-serving corruption was not justifiable. Unsurprisingly, Plunkitt vehemently opposed civil service reform.

Industrialists

John P. Morgan

John Pierpont “J.P.” Morgan was one of America’s most prolific financiers. Born into the influential Morgan family, J.P. Morgan began his career in his father’s merchant banking firm Peabody, Morgan & Co. Morgan later went on to found the investment banking firm Drexel, Morgan, & Co. Later renamed, J.P. Morgan & Co., the bank came to own holdings in firms in industries ranging from steel to utilities. During the Gilded Age, J.P. Morgan became known for taking over struggling businesses and returning them to profitability. His firm was instrumental in facilitating the many mergers that occurred during the time period. J.P. Morgan had significant influence over many United States Congressmen, even securing meetings with sitting U.S. Presidents.

Andrew Carnegie

An immigrant from Scotland, Andrew Carnegie spent much of his youth working for the Pennsylvania Railroad Company. He quickly rose up the ranks and eventually became a division superintendent of the firm. Using connections made in this position, Carnegie began to invest in coal, iron, and other railroad technologies. In 1865, Carnegie left the rail industry for good and a few years later started Carnegie Steel. As one of the first vertically integrated companies, Carnegie Steel amassed a large market share and eventually helped the United States outproduce Britain in the steel industry. Carnegie was an avid philanthropist and is most famous for 1889 article “Gospel of Wealth,” which called on the wealthy to use their immense resources to improve society. His contributions inspired many others to donate to the arts and sciences and allowed for the creation of thousands of public libraries, countless pieces of scientific research, and the famous Carnegie Hall.

Jay Gould

Jay Gould made his fortune by speculating in railroad firms throughout the 1850s and 60s. After a protracted battle with Cornelius Vanderbilt, Gould came to run the Erie Railroad until he was ousted in the early 1870s. Shortly thereafter, Gould seized control of the Union Pacific Railroad, as well as other Western rail lines. Gould is often remembered as one of the more ruthless of the Gilded Age industrialists, and was often suspected of illegal activity. Gould, along with James Fisk, became benefactors of Tammany Hall, a New York political machine, and were close to the infamous Boss Tweed. Gould also participated in a failed attempt to corner the gold market. Though he died in 1892, this committee shall proceed as though he managed to live on.

John D. Rockefeller

John D. Rockefeller is widely credited with being the richest man in American history. His vast wealth came from his company, the infamous Standard Oil, which became synonymous with monopoly in the United States. In 1872 alone, Rockefeller bought out 22 of his 26 competitors in Cleveland’s kerosene refining industry. His negotiating prowess allowed him to obtain favorable shipping rates from railroads, eventually allowing Standard Oil to became the largest oil production company in the world. As the richest of the industrialists, Rockefeller also drew the most ire from progressive activists, causing him great personal anxiety throughout the 1880s and 1890s.

Andrew W. Mellon

Hailing from Pennsylvania’s wealthy Mellon family, Andrew Mellon demonstrated an uncanny knack for investment. As an accomplished banker, Mellon invested in assets ranging from oil to construction, and was the influential in the creation of such giants as Gulf Oil and Alcoa. Mellon’s assets were among the most diversified of the major industrialists, and often sponsored cutting edge scientific research that he later monetized for a hefty profit. Mellon was less risk averse than the other industrialists, leading some to view him as one of America’s first major venture capitalists.

QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER

We hope that this topic guide has provided with delegates with a useful introduction to the Gilded Age. When conducting further research and while crafting directives, we hope that delegates keep the following questions in mind. This list is by no means exhaustive, but provides a good starting point for thinking about these issues:

Labor

1. What kinds of tools do labor leaders have available to achieve their goals? How do legislation, direct negotiation and strikes compare in their feasibility, efficacy and side-effects?

2. Are strikes effective? When, if ever, are militant tactics more beneficial for workers than direct negotiation?

3. Which demographic group, if any, does each union represent? How does each union treat workers disadvantaged by gender, race and nationality? Is there an incentive to act on such disparities?

4. How can unions maintain their public image whilst still achieving union goals?

Bureaucrats

1. Is it in the interest of bureaucrats to break virtual monopolies? What sort of legislation would this entail?

2. How much direct authority does the executive branch have in influencing the American economy?

3. Who should be primarily in charge of addressing labor disputes? Should the issue be left to municipalities, states, the federal government, or the unions and industrialists themselves? What are the roles of each branch of government in handling such disputes? Is a nationwide labor framework required?

4. Is civil service reform necessary? Is it justified for bureaucrats to prioritize certain interest groups? What role do political machines like Tammany Hall play in both federal and state politics?

5. Are certain industries more important or valuable to the United States than others? If so, which ones?

Industrialists

1. Which labor disputes should be handled in-house versus decided in a court of law? What are worker demands that you are willing to accept, and how can you exert control over the channels through which these are expressed?

2. Does public perception of firms matter? If so, how? How should firms address the concerns of labor activists, if at all?

3. What impact do monopolies have on the U.S. economy? What is the impact of antitrust legislation?

4. Do corporations have any obligations to society? What obligations, if any, do wealthy individuals have to the broader American population? Should wealthy individuals be required to be philanthropic?

5. What impact do taxes and tariffs have on the upkeep of large corporations?

6. How do America’s corporations shape culture?

Bibliography 

1. Ambrose, Steven. "Nothing like It in the World: The Men Who Built the Transcontinental Railroad, 1863-1869". New York: Simon and Schuster, 2000

2. American Federation of Labor: History, Encyclopedia, Reference Book. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1977.

3. An economic philosophy which holds that all economic value derived from land should belong equally to all residents of a community.

4. Adapted from: "An Introduction to Georgist Philosophy & Activity". Council of Georgist Organizations. Retrieved 18 July 2016.

5. AP U.S. History. Amsco School Publications.

6. Bailey, Thomas Andrew. The American Pageant: A History of the Republic. Boston: D.C. Heath, 1965.

7. Beattie, Andrew. "A History Of U.S. Monopolies | Investopedia." Investopedia. June 19, 2007. http://www.investopedia.com/articles/economics/08/hammer-antitrust.asp.

8. DeSantis, Vincent P. "The Gilded Age in American History." Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Center. Accessed June 12, 2016.

9. Foner, Eric, and John A. Garraty. The Reader's Companion to American History. Boston: Houghton-Mifflin, 1991.

10. Ginger, Ray. Eugene V. Debs: A Biography. New York: Collier Books, 1962. p.170.

11. Green, John. "Gilded Age Politics: Crash Course US History #26." YouTube. August 23, 2013. Accessed August 08, 2016. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Spgdy3HkcSs.

12. Harvey, Rowland Hill. Samuel Gompers, Champion of the Toiling Masses. Stanford University, CA: Stanford University Press, 1935. p.40.

13. "History Files - Pullman." Chicago Historical Society. 1999. Accessed July 05, 2016. https://www.chicagohs.org/history/pullman/pul5.html.

14. Ibid

15. Jenks, Leland. "Railroads as an economic force in American development." Journal of Economic History 4#1 (1944): 1-20

16. Morgan, H. Wayne. From Hayes to McKinley; National Party Politics, 1877-1896. Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press, 1969.

17. Newman, John J., and Schmalbach, John M.. AP U.S. History. Amsco School Publications.

18. Newman, John J., and John M. Schmalbach. United States History. New York, NY: Amsco School Publications, 1998.

19. Northrup, Cynthia Clark. The American Economy: A Historical Encyclopedia. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 2003. p.136.

20. Olson, James Stuart. Encyclopedia of the Industrial Revolution in America. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2002. p.151.

21. Postel, Charles. "Populist Origins – The Farmers' Alliance." American Populism, 1876-1896: Populist Origins. Accessed August 08, 2016. http://gildedage.lib.niu.edu/populismorigins.

22. Powell, Alvin. "America's First Time Zone." Harvard Gazette. http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2011/11/america's-first-time-zone/.

23 "Railroads and the Birth of the Modern Office." Smithsonian Education. http://www.smithsonianeducation.org/scitech/carbons/railroads.html.

24. Schlup, Leonard C., and James Gilbert. Ryan. Historical Dictionary of the Gilded Age. Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe, 2003. p.405.

25. Shrock, Joel. The Gilded Age. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2004. p.14.

26. Smith, Karen Manners., and Elisabeth Israels. Perry. Gilded Age and Progressive Era: A Student Companion (Oxford Student Companions to American History). Oxford University Press, 2006. p.155.

27. Spann, C. Edward., and Michael E. Williams. Presidential Praise: Our Presidents and Their Hymns. Macon, GA: Mercer University Press, 2008.

28. "The King Of Frauds: How the Credit Mobilier Bought Its Way Through Congress". The Sun (New York). 4 September 1872.

29. "The Lost World of Gilded Age Politics." The Lost World of Gilded Age Politics. Accessed June 5, 2016. http://courses.missouristate.edu/bobmiller/Populism/Texts/lost_world_of_gilded_age_pol.htm.

30. Tindall, George Brown and Shi, David E. (2012). America: A Narrative History (Brief Ninth Edition) (Vol. 2). W. W. Norton & Company. p. 589.

31. Tindall, George and Shi, David. “America: A Narrative History (Brief 9th ed.)”. W.W. Norton and Company: 2012

32. United States Census Office. 11th census, 1890 (1892). Census Bulletin. p. 2.

33. Zinn, Howard. A People's History of the United States: 1492-present. New York: HarperPerennial, 2005.